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"PreChristian?"
    "Yes. Pagan. If you want a romantic story, it is said that it was a warrior king's ring. More specifically, Fenian. It's certainly a man's ring, and no average man at that."
    Flynn nodded. "Why not MacCumail's ring? Or Dermot's?"
    "Why not, indeed? Who would dare wear a ring larger than this?"
    Flynn smiled. "You've a pagan streak in you, Father. Didn't Saint Patrick consign the departed Fenians to hen? What was their crime, then, that they must spend eternity in bell?"
    "No crime. Just born at the wrong time." He smiled. "Like many of us."
    "Right." Flynn liked a priest who could laugh at his dogma.
    The priest leaned across the table. "When Oisin, son of Finn MacCumail, returned from the Land of Perpetual Youth, he found Ireland Christian.
    The brave warrior was confused, sad. Oisin rejected the ordered Christian society and longed with nostalgia for the untamed lustiness of old Erin.
    If he or his father, Finn MacCumail, came into Ulster today, they would be overjoyed at this Christian warfare. And they would certainly recognize the new pagans among us."
    "Meaning meT'
    Maureen poured tea into three mugs. "He's talking to you, Brian, isn't he?"
    Father Donnelly rose. "I'll take my tea in the refectory."
    Maureen Malone rose, too. "Don't leave."

    44

    CATHEDRAL

    "I really must." His demeanor had changed from paternal to businesslike.
    He looked at Flynn. "Your friends want you to stay here for two more days. They'll contact me and let me know the plan. Any reply?"
    Flynn shook his head. "No."
    Maureen looked at Flynn, then at Father Donnelly. "I have a reply. Tell them I want safe passage to Dublin, a hundred pounds, and a work visa for the south."
    The priest nodded. He turned to go, hesitated, and came back. He placed the ring on the small table. "Mister
    "Cocharan."
    "Yes. Take this ring."
    "Why?"
    "Because you want it and I don't."
    "It's a valuable relic."
    "So are you."
    "I won't ask you what you mean by that." He stood and looked hard at the priest, then took the ring from the table and placed it on his finger.
    Several new thoughts were forming in his mind, but he had no one to share them with. "Thank you." He looked at the ring. "Any curse attached to it that I should know about?"
    'Me priest replied, "You should assume there is."
    He looked at the two people standing before, him. "I can't approve of the way you live your lives, but I find it painful to see a love dying. Any love, anywhere in this unloving country." He turned and made his way out of the cellar.
    Flynn knew that Maureen had been talking to the priest while he'd been sleeping. He was having difficulty dealing with all that had happened in so short a time. Belfast, the old lady and the abbey, a priest who used pagan legends to make Christian statements, Maureen's aloofness. He was clearly not in control. He stood motionless for a time, then turned toward her. "I'd like you to reconsider about Dublin."
    She looked down and shook her head.
    "I'm asking you to stay . . . not only because I What I mean is . . ."

    45

    NELSON DE MILLE

    "I know what you mean. Once in, never out. I'm not afraid of them."
    "You should be. I can't protect you-"
    "I'm not asking you to." She looked at him. "We're both better off."
    "You're probably right. You understand these things better than V'
    She knew that tone of voice. Remote. Sarcastic. The air in the cellar felt dense, oppressive. Church or not, the place made her uneasy. She thought about the coffin through which they had entered this hole, and that had been a little like dying. When she came out again she wanted to leave behind every memory of the place, every thought of the war. She looked at the ring on his hand. "Leave the damned thing here."
    "I'm not only taking the ring, Maureen, I'm taking the name as well."
    "What name?"
    "I need a new code name . . . Finn MacCumail."
    She almost laughed. "In any other country they'd treat you for megalomania.
    In Northern Ireland they'll fin~d you quite